#0: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -1). This squad is turning it on at the right time. A sweep of Penn St. last week, plus a 16-2 plowing of Ohio St. to begin an early-shifted season-ending series in Columbus, has propelled the Gophers to the top spot in the Big Ten by a game over Michigan. In fact, with one more win the team claims at least a share of the conference regular season title and the top spot in next week's tournament, also held in Columbus.
It gets even better. Kyle Knudson and T.J. Oakes swept last week's conference honors. Knudson was named Player Of The Week for going 8-for-13 with a pair of home runs against the Nittany Lions. Oakes was bestowed Pitcher Of The Week for retiring the first 16 Penn St. batters and going eight innings in the victory Saturday. Finally, those cheapasses the Pohlads have given $2 million for renovating Siebert Field, thereby putting them 46.7% on their way towards their goal of $7.5 million for the razing. Don't know how they're going to improve Siebert unless they get more space; that's the problem with the facility, not necessarily that it's old. But whatever they want to do to make it better, they have more money now that the Pohlads have given the Gophs two mill. Good for them!
For all these disparate reasons that will not be coming together again anytime soon, this perfect week will be rewarded with a #0. Congrats, Gopher Nine! They close out the regular season with the final two against the Buckeyes, then prepare for the Big Ten Tournament, which they certainly have qualified for.
#-2: Lynx (Re-Entry!). They began their season with a win at Tulsa -- should be impressive, except that they lost their next two games.
I was at the home opener Sunday evening. They started out like gangbusters, finishing the first quarter leading the Washington Mystics by 10. But they slowly bled that away on bad shooting, no rebounding, absent defense and turning the ball over. They led by five at the half, then the Mystics turned on the afterburners in the second half. I think they were up by as much as 21 before the 87-76 final.
Wednesday's loss at Seattle may have been even more dispiriting. Once again they get out to a fast lead, leading the Storm by, once again, 5 at the half. And they didn't wilt in the third quarter, matching the Storm's 15 points in that frame. They turned it on in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Jinx 24-16.
Used to be this team would start fast in the season, only to peter out and get eliminated from the playoffs late. Now, they seem to be accelerating that pace and cramming that disappointment in games from more convenient consumption. This week: hosting the Bastard Detroit Shock Sunday, then at Connecticut Thursday.
#-3: Twins (Last Week: -2). Have the Twinks come crashing back down to earth? A three-game losing streak at the end of the cutoff week means they finish their east coast swing at 2-5, punctuated by their two-game sweep at Boston, the first time they've been swept all year. They are now tied with Detroit for the lead in the A.L. Central. The only thing I think this proves is that the Twinkies still think themselves inferior to the A.L. East.
At least they'll be home this week. They begin interleague play hosting the Bastard Seattle Pilots in the 94 Series, then finish their regular season meetings with the Yankees during the workweek.
#-4: Timberwolves (Re-Entry!). Slipping down from second, where they would've drafted because of the second-worst record in the league, to fourth in a two-man draft? Because this is, like, the umpteenth time they have slipped from their projected slot in the NBA Draft Lottery, they have to have a spot in the bottom of the WMNSS this week. Truly, God hates the Timberwolves.
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